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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27496492">Ballad of the Cats</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/blazing_spectre/pseuds/blazing_spectre'>blazing_spectre</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Accidentally romance-blocked by ghost mechanics, Alternate Universe, Based off phasmophobia, Dream Sharing, Eventual Romance, Ghost Hunter AU, M/M, Mistaken Identity, Mutual Pining, Mystery, Shipping, Slow Burn, Tommy wilbur and Philza are also all ghosts, Very little planning has gone into this, could get angsty, depictions of violence, dream has other ideas, dream thinks techno and the blade are different people, dreamteam + bad and ant are ghost hunters, ghost au, ghost skeppy, ghost technoblade, lowkey horror, no beta we die like NBs, skephalo background, techno just wants to haunt a library in peace</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 22:08:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>7</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>20,775</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27496492</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/blazing_spectre/pseuds/blazing_spectre</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Up-and-coming paranormal investigation group, The Dreamteam, are given their biggest job yet; find out the truth about the death of a Crown Prince from hundreds of years ago, known as ‘The Blade.’ While the rest of the team are invested in the job, Dream finds himself developing his own unique interest in the eccentric ghost they’ve been sent after.</p><p>A sort of phasmophobia-based ghost AU, because I love that spooky shit, and I think the MCYT fanbase needs more of it. Named after the CREEPIEST AND BEST SONG IN THE NETHER DO NOT @ ME</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Clay | Dream/Dave | Technoblade, Zak Ahmed/Darryl Noveschosch</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>238</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1343</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Chapter 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It was a surprisingly warm evening, gentle rain splashing against the van’s windows, when the five young paranormal investigators received the phone call. It was less than an hour before their job that night, and it caught all of them off guard, breaking the building tension that always arose while they waited outside the target location. George, Sapnap, Bad, and Ant put down their equipment and turned in their seats to watch Dream as he answered, and switched the phone to speaker.</p><p>“... Hello? I don’t know who this is, but I really shouldn’t be accepting calls right now. I’m a bit busy. You can call me back after—“</p><p>“Am I speaking to the leader of The Dreamteam?” The pleasant Scottish voice wasn’t one Dream had heard before. Or one he wanted to hear more of, impatient as he was to get back into the pre-job routine this man had interrupted.</p><p>“Yes, you are. Why? Who is this? I don’t have long to talk.”</p><p>“You’re asking a lot of questions for someone who doesn’t have long,” the man chuckled. </p><p>“What do you want? We have a job to do, and you’re holding us up.”</p><p>“And I’m here to offer you a better one.” </p><p>Dream glanced at his friends. Ant and George were only half listening, still messing with their equipment, while the other two watched in silence, waiting to hear what the man had to say, Dream assumed. He sighed, massaging his forehead. “Get back to me in two hours, ok?”</p><p>A pause. “Sure thing, Mr. Dream. Good luck out there. Wouldn’t want anything bad to happen to you lot before I get to tell you what I have for you, would I. You can call me S. Major, by the way. Bye!” The phone clicked off before Dream could get another word in, and the gentle patter of rain filled the resulting silence.</p><p>Sapnap effortlessly twirled his torch around in his hands. “What even was that about, Dream?”</p><p>“I have.. absolutely no idea,” Dream answered honestly. </p><p>The Dreamteam had been operating for six months now under Dream. At first it had just been him, George, and Sapnap, but after Sapnap almost died twice, they realized three people weren’t enough when going up against the supernatural, and Bad and Antfrost joined the ranks. Their main goal wasn’t exorcism, or any kind of spiritual cleansing; what they did was learn about each ghost, and use what they learned to provide clues, or solve mysteries surrounding the deceased, or the haunted area. They liked to think of it as leaning more into the investigative side of paranormal investigation. Most of the mysteries they helped with were small family history disputes, or pinpointing who was responsible for the theft of the local town’s vase. Half the time they even found worthwhile information. Despite their completely average success rate, however, the Dreamteam had recently been climbing the ranks in the industry, and were starting to get noticed by more than just grieving widows and paranoid farmers and the like. </p><p>This S. Major guy for example. He seemed much more calm than most, and the reassurance that whatever job he had lined up was better than the current one—<br/>
finding out if Ms. Marlins’ auntie had actually bricked someone into the attic—looked like it had the whole gang’s curiosity up. Now that they were rising to what could be considered fame within this community, the jobs had been getting less run-of-the-mill, more dangerous, and more lucrative, and after a week of similar cases, whatever this guy had in mind could be just the kind of excitement they needed.</p><p>“Ooo, do you think he’ll send us to some big castle, or maybe a really creepy forest?” Bad asked. He had previously seemed somewhat worried about what they were about to do, and Dream was glad to see his mind had been taken elsewhere.</p><p>“I don’t know, it could be an office building or a church or something really official, you know?” George said. “Whatever it is it’s probably better than this.”</p><p>“Anything would be better than this,” Dream said, rolling his eyes as he changed out the batteries in his camera. “We can call him back after this, ok? I just wanna get this one over with, honestly. We probably won’t even find anything, so we should just do it.”</p><p>He hoped they wouldn’t. Yes, it payed more when they found evidence, yes, it was more fun when dealing with an actual real ghost, yes it stopped all five of them from getting as bored and frustrated as quickly, but if Dream were honest, the fewer ghosts he had to actually encounter, the better. He admitted he was more than good when it came to his work, but every time they dealt with a real ghost, something about it left him shaky and... weird. Plus, it was pretty scary, although he wasn’t going to admit that.</p><p>After assessing the intel they had been given, gearing up, and heading inside, they found nothing scary awaiting them, aside from a large moth that startled Sapnap, and sent Ant and Bad cowering in a corner for five minutes while Dream tried to pull them out. The job was a bust after all. At least they would get some money for their efforts.</p><p>It was 2am when they pulled up to Bad’s house, their current base of operations. As per their weekly routine on a Saturday, late night snacks were ordered in from a local store, and the five friends collapsed onto the old couches in their garage office, ready to unwind at the end of a long week. Despite the cloying humidity, and the late hour, none of them felt especially tired, and after their snacks arrived, they all began bugging Dream to call S. Major back and hear him out.</p><p>“Come onnnnn Dreammmm. We wanna know what his deal is,” George said, throwing a fifth m&amp;m at Dream’s head, which he caught expertly in his mouth (he chose to ignore the previous four, which still sat on the ground in front of him).</p><p>“Okay, okay!” Dream laughed, and put up his hands to stop the popcorn and wrappers from the others, that were now also being pelted at him. “Stop it and I’ll call, okay? Gimme a sec.”</p><p>“One second, yeah? Let us hear about the haunted castle!” Bad chimed in.</p><p>“I hope it’s not actually a castle. That would be way too big for us, I think,” Ant mused.</p><p>“One second is up Dream, let’s go!” Sapnap yelled into Dream’s ear as he opened up the recent calls lost.</p><p>“I’m doing it! Stop!” He pushed his friend off him, laughing, and dialed the number. George threw another m&amp;m at him while they waited for the man to pick up.</p><p>“It’s pretty late. Do you think he’s already asleep?” Ant asked.</p><p>As he spoke, the ringing stopped, and S. Major answered the phone. “Gentlemen, I hope you’re well.”</p><p>“Let me talk to him first, guys,” Dream told his friends. He put the phone on speaker again, and motioned  for them all to come closer while they listened. “We are. How about you?”</p><p>“Not bad, not bad.” He cleared his throat, “Listen Dream, I have a job for you and your team. It’s a big one, probably bigger than anything you’ve had to take on before. It will definitely take more than one night, maybe even a week. However, I can promise it will be worth your while. Not only will it be worth a lot of money, but it will also get you a lot of attention from others interested in the paranormal. Have you heard of the Hornsbury Bay college?”</p><p>“Oh! I have!” Bad piped up. “Isn’t it that old abandoned university campus that a whole bunch of people died at? I think I remember seeing something about it online once when I was looking up ghosties.”</p><p>The man chuckled. “That’s. Not too far off. It’s certainly got a few ‘ghosties’ to its name. But as far as most people know, most of the deaths happened just off the campus, on the beach of the bay. About four hundred and sixty years ago, there was a very large battle there, and, along with the soldiers occupying the grounds, a lot of students also died. Now, me and a few colleagues of mine have been looking into information about one of the military higher-ups who was killed there. Or at least we think he was. Most people say he simply disappeared after the battle, as his body was never found there, but recently people have been noticing a spike in paranormal activity happening on the actual campus, rather than the beach, rumours of a spectral figure in the college halls, not too dissimilar to that of this man.</p><p>“What I’m asking you and your group to do, is find proof that he died there, in that battle, and maybe even commune with him if you can, although I understand that sort of thing isn’t what you’re used to doing. It would be invaluable to me and my colleagues, and anyone else interested in the history of the area. It will be quite dangerous, I won’t lie, what with the numerous violent deaths that occurred there leading to probably malevolent activity from those active there, and the fact that two previous investigative groups have gone missing in the past, on the same job detail. However, from what I’ve heard, you lot are more than skilled enough to make it through this, which is why I am now coming to you. Don’t worry, you can pull out at any time, if you think you can’t handle it. What do you say?”</p><p>The group was silent, all intently listening and processing what S. Major was saying.</p><p>“How much are we talking, price-wise?” Dream ventured, after a pause. He was very curious. This was indeed unlike any job before, and his mind sped to keep up with the interest he now had, already formulating plans and theories. But he had to be sure this was a road worth going down.”</p><p>“For the base job? About $1000 each.” </p><p>Ant and Bad audibly gasped, and George muttered a breathless, “No way.” For most jobs they’d done, they were very lucky if they got to even split that much between them</p><p>Dream leaned forward, eyes wide. “And if we get the proof you want and everything?”</p><p>“Then I’d say maybe... $7000 each? It really depends though.”</p><p>Everyone was still once again, until Sapnap nudged Dream’s arm. “You realize that this is literally the perfect job, right? This is actually perfect. Even with ought the price, we would be so dumb if we passed this up.” </p><p>“Yeah, I know. This is the dream job for the Dreamteam.”</p><p>“Oh we could try and camp on the beach and everything! It’ll be so exciting!” </p><p>“Bad, I think that would be a really terrible idea,” George mused. “Oh yeah let’s sleep on the massive haunted beach what could go wrong?”</p><p>“Okay we can just. Sleep nearby in the van then,” Bad grumbled. “... Maybe I wanna sleep on the ghost beach.”</p><p>“No way you want to,” said Dream.</p><p>“... Okay, you got me. No I definitely do not want to sleep on the beach with the ghost memers.”</p><p>Dream turned back to the phone. “Tell us more about the guy we’re looking for.”</p><p>“So I take it you’re in then?” S. Major ventured.</p><p>“We absolutely are.” There were whistles and cheers from next to him, as his friends celebrated momentarily. S. Major chuckled, seemingly amused by their antics. Dream had to admit he was surprised this offer was coming from someone who seemed so open and personable.</p><p>“Something I didn’t mention earlier; this ghost isn’t just a military leader, but the second son of a king. He is the ghost of a prince. Dream, have you ever heard the name, ‘The Blade?’”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wrote this at 5am help.</p><p>The rest of the chapters will probably be longer. </p><p>Let me know what you think!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Chapter 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The days leading up to the Hornsbury Bay job filled Dream with a constant restless energy. He found himself putting way too much of his time into the planning for the job, and collapsed each night, tired, but mind still alight with all the possibilities of what was to come in the next week. This job really was unlike anything they’d taken on before, and despite his and his friends’ skill, Dream was beginning to think they might be out of their depth. The biggest building they had covered, a relatively small town hall, was nothing compared to the scale of the Hornsbury Bay campus. No wonder S. Major—or Scott, as he had asked them to call him—had told them it would take more than a few days. The level of danger was also massive in comparison to the norm, with multiple very dangerous ghosts present, according to what intel they cold find. Dream shivered at the thought of having to confront one of these apparitions, and froze a little every time he remembered that the Blade was among one of the deadliest ghosts there.</p><p>The others also seemed nervous, but their enthusiasm and excitement seemed to drown it out. Dream hoped the adventurous nature of the job wouldn’t lead to any lapses in caution, but from what he could tell, the rest of the Dreamteam had been investing similar amounts of time into their planning. Bad had gone back to looking into the history of the place, with Ant assisting him where he could, while George looked at maps of the campus itself, and the surrounding area; it was important they have easy access around the place if they needed to escape. Meanwhile he and Sapnap put extra care into studying particularly malevolent spirits, and what tools they would have to bring with them. The answer was almost double what they had on them, however, Scott had offered to acquire anything of the sort they required.</p><p>Later that week, all carrying bags full of torches, thermometers, radios, food, clothes, and everything they could possibly need for the week, they met at Bad’s house, and piled into their van, cramped as it was with all their stuff. After ten minutes of trying to drag a very reluctant Bad away from Rat, who had to stay behind much to Bad’s obvious dismay, they set out along the road, all full of nervous energy. No one seemed ready to talk about what they were about to do yet, instead choosing to tell each other about the mundane things that had happened during the week. Seeing everyone laughing and swapping stories so casually did a lot to reassure Dream, who could at least rest easy knowing he’d have his best friends by his side, no matter what happened to him.</p><p>It was noon when they reached the motel they would be staying at, giving them plenty of time to get settled in and geared up for their first journey onto the campus that night. The motel was only a 20 minute walk away, one of its selling tourist points being that it was right next to the bay, on the same stretch of beach as Hornsbury Bay campus. Dream would share a room with George, while the other three were staying next door. After getting unpacked, the group arranged themselves in the latters’ loungeroom and discussed the plan going forward.</p><p>“Okay, here’s the plan as agreed upon,“ Dream said, the most serious he had been all day. It was time to get down to business. “Tonight is just about going to the location, and getting familiar with it. There won’t be any looking for clues, or trying to communicate, just getting to know the location in person. We will stay together the entire time, because we can take our time tonight.”</p><p>“Why just tonight?” asked Ant.</p><p>Sapnap answered, “According to Scott, and the stuff me and Dream found, big places like this will seem pretty much inactive for a few hours once you go in, even if the ghosts are angry ones. Next time we go in, we might have to split up to cover ground, so we can come and go as quickly as possible.”</p><p>“That, and we’re going in before sunset, so we’ll have that extra safety net of daylight that’ll let us take it easy,” Dream added. “Mostly we want to find areas that, disregarding ghost clues, might give us some hints about what the place was like, and if we’re really lucky, something to do with the Blade, or someone else there. George, how did the map studying go?”</p><p>George opened the laptop that lay in front of him and sighed. “Honestly, not that great. Most of the maps are really hard to read, or are messed up by water or age on top of that, but I have enough of a general idea to kind of guide us around.” He turned the laptop around to show everyone else the screen. “There are three main buildings here, in a kind of crescent shape, there. They’re all three stories, pretty long. The one on the right I think is like, dorms and amenities and stuff, the middle is more offices and admin, and I think the left is for classes or labs? There are some other small buildings around too, but I couldn’t tell what they were.”</p><p>Dream squinted at the map, memorizing it as best he could in five seconds, before turning to Bad. “And what were you able to learn about the Blade?” Dream had been wanting to look into the prince. He seemed like a very mysterious figure, and, well, he was the literal ghost of royalty, a ghost that Dream himself might actually get the chance to talk to. It was a big deal. Part of Dream hoped that, what with the situation being as momentous as it was, that the Blade too would be different from the phantoms they had encountered in the past, more of a challenge, but the fun sort of challenge, not the frustrating kind the Dreamteam had grown so used to. He had held back from doing his own research simply because he and Sapnap had had enough on their plate leading up to the job.</p><p>“Well, we’re not actually sure if he was a prince, or was just assumed to be one,” Bad began.</p><p>“Why would you just assume someone was a prince? Did he always wear a crown or something?” George snickered.</p><p>“As a matter of fact, George, he did always wear a crown!” Bad said, puffing his chest out a bit triumphantly. “Instead of a helmet, or some sort of protecting gear like everyone else, he always had a shiny golden crown on his head, even in battle. Apparently, no one saw him without it.”</p><p>“What kind of weirdo always wears a crown if he isn’t a prince? This guy sounds kinda strange,” Sapnap said.</p><p>“Which is why everyone just assumed he was a prince. Or at least, all the records I could find (which was barely any) called him a prince, but we couldn’t find any actual evidence about it besides word of mouth and rumours,” said Bad. “He would be a very strange fellow if he was just pretending the whole time.” The group nodded. Dream was becoming more and more curious. </p><p>“Actually,” Ant said, “Even when not counting the crown, it looks like he was a pretty strange guy. He would obsessively work on ways to improve his combat ability, his troops’ equipment, anything it took to become stronger, to the point of neglecting sleep and food. A lot of the other higher ups in his army were glad to have him fight beside them, but were also very worried for him, it looks like. We don’t know what his end goal was, but we think it was either fame and glory, or to literally be the most fearsome man alive.”</p><p>“Well that sounds terrifying,” George said. Dream didn’t argue. Maybe the Blade was just the right challenge for him after all. Dream wasn’t too dissimilar in his goals to becoming one of the highest rated paranormal investigators around, and would often put hours and hours each day into studying different methods to search for ghosts, and how to protect himself from them, sometimes neglecting to take care of himself, much to his own frustration. Not to project onto a dead man, but Dream found the small similarities between himself and the Blade amusing. He would love to have a chat with him. Hopefully that wish wouldn’t get him killed.</p><p>“What did he look like, Bad, and how do you think he’ll show himself to us?” he asked. “Should we keep an eye out for a guy with a crown and a sword?”</p><p>Bad shook his head. “Wrong, Dream. First of all, the Blade, even though that’s his name, fought with an axe, not a sword—”</p><p>“Why’s his name ‘The Blade’ then,” Sapnap asked.</p><p>“Axes have blades too, idiot,” Dream shot back “Bad, continue.”</p><p>He nodded. “So, if he is holding a weapon, it will be an axe. Which, honestly, doesn’t sound the nicest to me, but—anyway. The other thing, is that getting him to visually manifest in the first place might be really hard. According to some of the letters Scott sent us, people he worked with complained that he wasn’t very social, and he would usually try and avoid meetings, or gatherings and such. A few letters even say they think other people frightened him.”</p><p>“You’re telling me the most fearsome man to ever set foot in the campus, had social anxiety?” Dream raised an eyebrow. </p><p>Ant shrugged. “I don’t know if it was that necessarily, but I wouldn’t rule it out. It just means that actually getting proof of him, or communicating with him might be a little tricky, because he probably won’t want to show himself.” </p><p>“I don’t know,” George mused. “If Sapnap keeps screaming at every little thing again, maybe the Blade will get angry enough to attack him. Then he’d have to manifest.”</p><p>The rest laughed at Sapnap’s indignant face. “Sorry Sapnap, but you do scream very loudly. A lot,” Bad conceded.</p><p>“I do not,” Sapnap shot back. “Besides, you’re definitely the most scared out of all of us. You’re even more scared than Ant and me.” </p><p>“Hey!”</p><p>“I might be the most scared, but at least I can act brave enough to make the ghosties think I’m not.”</p><p>“Aaaanyway!” Dream interrupted. “We still have more to discuss about the Blade.” He wouldn’t lie; the more he learned, the more nervous he became at the thought of going onto the campus. But with that nervousness came excitement, the likes of which he hadn’t felt in a while. “Bad.” He stepped between him and Sapnap before they started throwing the couch pillows at each other. “Could you find out any, I don’t know, personal information? Like his age, or. Maybe his name. I strongly doubt his parents called him ‘Blade.’”</p><p>Bad sat back down and placed the pillow he was holding next to him. “Actually, we couldn’t find his real name anywhere. Literally everyone just called him Blade. We did get the names of some of the people who might have been close to him though—Techno and Wilbur—although there’s even less information about those two. They might not have even died there. His age is also hard to guess, but I’d say maybe in his late thirties? He was very wise and powerful after all.”</p><p>“He was wise?” An intellectual parallel to Dream also, he hoped.</p><p>“Well, he read sometimes.”</p><p>“Then he probably was a prince, right?” Dream said. “Wasn’t it only kings and stuff who could read back then?”</p><p>“Maybe? Or was that monks?” George said.</p><p>“That was medieval times, not the 1600s.”</p><p>“Oh.”</p><p>There was a brief pause. Bad spoke again. “There was also one more not good piece of information. The Blade apparently memed more people in this battle than either side combined. There… weren’t a lot of survivor stories, but the ones we found were… very very brutal. He spent a lot of time training and studying, and that studying might have payed off a little too well.” Once again, everyone was silent. </p><p>Dream stood and looked around at everyone. “Right, I think that covers it for the most part. In three hours, we’ll head to the campus and actually look around. It won’t be night time, but we should bring our torches, and spare batteries anyway, because we might be there for a while. Ok, let’s get ready!”</p><p> </p><p>Dream spent the last 30 minutes before they headed off restlessly pacing outside the motel. He had gotten his gear together in record time, and wanted to go. Massive abandoned buildings, terrifying ghosts with layers and layers of mystery surrounding them; this was exactly the sort of thing he had dreamed of when becoming a paranormal investigator, and he couldn’t wait to finally experience those dreams for the first time. They had up to a week to learn the secrets of Hornsbury Bay campus, and he was going to make the most of it. As he waited for the others, he wondered just what would await them inside? How hard would it be to find the active places in such a big building? Was the Blade even haunting it at all? How many times would Sapnap almost die over the next week? And just who was the Blade? If he was really as bloodthirsty as Bad claimed, the team would have to be on high alert at all times. He didn’t sound like an angry ghost, but he also didn’t sound like one who liked being around people, and Dream was starting to worry that the lengths the Blade might go to, to avoid talking to people, might involve a lot of axe-swinging, and a lot of blood. Even then, though, the ghost hunter mused, wouldn’t it be that much more exciting to talk to him face to spectral face?</p><p>Finally, the rest of the Dreamteam were ready to head off. They always did their best, in the time before going to haunted locations, to remain upbeat, and to help each other not worry about what they were heading into. This time was no different. Together, they walked along the beach, kicking sand at each other, and joking around, as the sun sat low on the water, and the ocean breeze helped remove some of the cloying humidity. They all wore their bright signature colours, so that in the darkness, they would stand out to each other, and be able to stick together as a group, and all carried backpacks and head torches. They were as ready as they’d ever be. </p><p>As they walked, the campus came more and more into view. It was truly massive, tall, dark blocks of buildings rising from atop a cliff that looked out over the still water. Dream wasn’t sure if it was the now somewhat low light, or if the bricks were really that black, whether it be fromage or by design. The sunlight barely even reflected off the glass windows, giving it the impression that the entire area was somehow immune to light, like it had no place there. They reached the cliff, and with his map, George directed them to an old stone pathway, now covered in moss, that would take them to the campus. They had stopped their jovial conversation now, as they continued to approach the dark campus ahead of them. The wind from the sea was the only sound they heard, aside from the gentle sound of their shoes against the cold rock. It was now that Dream realized just how isolated this place was. It had taken them twenty minutes just to get here from the motel, and that was the closest building to Horsnbury, according to Scott. Dream swallowed. There would be no getting out of here easily, no van to retreat to. They were alone. Well, as alone as you could be in a house full of ghosts.</p><p>They walked through a tall set of iron gates, held open by vines around their rusted hinges, as if the place was forcing itself to invite them in. While everything in front of them was covered in moss or vines, Dream noticed that, for a place that had been abandoned for hundreds of years, it was lacking in the expected amount of plant life. In fact the three main buildings themselves, seemed almost untouched by nature.</p><p>“I can barely see in through the windows,” muttered George. “It’s like they’re all dirty, but there’s no dirt.” </p><p>“That makes no sense, George,” Dream answered. He meant it as a light-hearted jab at his friend, but if anything, he sounded like he was in denial. Truth be told, Dream was absolutely terrified, and they hadn’t even gone inside yet. But that fear wasn’t going to stop him. It never had in the past. He looked over to Ant, who looked like he was doing his best to not see the buildings in front of them, and at Sapnap, who had his gaze fixed on the front door of the admin building, refusing to look anywhere else. Dream would be doing the same, if he wasn’t so curious about all of it. He wanted to drink it all in.</p><p>They got to the main door faster than he would have liked. From where they stood, it felt like the tall walls of the buildings around them were closing over him, both in warning and in welcome. He turned to the others. “This is it, guys. Every night for the rest of the week, if things go well. We’re gonna make this place our bitch. Remember, do not, under any circumstances, split from the group. Tonight is our tour night. We can take as many pictures as we like, Ant, you have the recording camera, so we can keep track of the way we’re going, everyone else, keep your torches on, and your cameras ready. We still have half an hour of sunlight left, but there’s no way that will be enough to get us through all three buildings.” He took a second to look each of them in the eye, before turning back to the door. “Let’s do this.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Tbh Techno was gonna get introduced this chapter, but it ended up being longer than I thought it would, so you're gonna have to wait a bit longer &gt;:3c</p><p>This is actually the first fic I've written in years, and while I have some rough ideas for where it's gonna go, there isn't much planning involved. With that, please tell me what you think so far! It's completely unbeta-d also, so any feedback would be greatly appreciated.</p><p>Also! You can visit my tumblr here! https://blazing-spectre.tumblr.com/<br/>I reblog a lot of MCYT stuff, and occasionally post art.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Chapter 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Upon entering the building, the group was enveloped by silence, pressing in around them from all sides. This often happened when going into haunted areas, and every time, it made Dream feel as though he were entering someplace removed from reality. He both hated it and loved it; it meant the adventure was truly beginning. Of course, he could still hear the sounds of their footsteps, and Bad gently humming to himself in order to stay calm, but something about it sounded muted. He could already feel that faint dizziness he would sometimes get around active ghosts, but he forced himself to keep stepping forward anyway. There was no echo to the footfalls, which was strange considering the scale of the entrance they had just stepped into.</p><p>While the exterior resembled a large, dull rectangle, the entrance hall boasted a room that would, once, have been fantastically grandiose. The space was giant, a wide and empty marble floor leading to a double set of staircases, leading to a first-floor balcony. The balconies were supported by beautiful pillars, and, framed by the stairs, a large reception desk sat in front of them, made out of dark wood, with small bits of gold inlay. The hall was big enough, that with barely any light coming through the windows, most of the room remained dark, but even then, the lavish decoration was apparent, even with the heavy layer of dust that sat on most things. </p><p>Sapnap walked further ahead, and whistled at the splendor of it all. “Whoever studied here must have been rich as honk,” he said, turning on his torch to better see. The others did the same, and started to look around.</p><p>“Okay!” Dream declared, doing his best to sound upbeat and energized, despite the dizziness. “We start in this room, then go straight to the right wing, with the dorms and stuff, and make our way through to the left wing from there. We can split up a bit for now, in the entrance, to cover more ground, but don’t go anywhere else until everyone’s ready, ok?” Everyone nodded, and began their search. </p><p>For the most part, the entry hall held nothing useful, aside from a register of students, now almost too faded to read, and some portraits lining the walls of the balcony, all displaying people in military dress, none of which looked to be any older than forty. Some of the paintings had been torn, making the people in them unrecognizable, or had their names scratched out on the plaques underneath them. What little Dream could read on one, said, “—ity, Student of Law, 15—,” which he assumed had the student’s name, area of study, and most likely their year of enrollment, or graduation. </p><p>There were only a few pictures he could really make out, all wearing different coloured versions of the same uniform. The first was of a man in dark green, with blond hair, and the beginnings of a beard, beside him, a younger man, dressed in red, also blond, with bright blue eyes. Dream did his best to try and make out their names, but failed. The last two portraits were somewhat legible at least, the first of a man with curly brown hair, and a serene smile, dressed in yellow. The unmarred part of his plaque read, “Wilbur.” Next, another man in red, this time, with what looked like pink hair, long, in a braid over his shoulder. Dream assumed the colour was just due to the paint fading. This plaque read, “Techno,” before cutting off. Areas of each painting had been scratched out, specifically Wilbur’s eyes, Techno’s eyes, and the space above his head, and the background behind the older blond. </p><p>He called the others over. “I know we’re not meant to be looking for clues yet, but look! It’s the guys Bad read about in the letter—Wilbur and Techno!”</p><p>“So they were students here!” Bad cheered. </p><p>“Looks like it,” Dream offered his friend a high five, as did the rest of the group. “Plus, we know what they look like now. They are all wearing military uniforms though.”</p><p>“I mean, a bunch of students were probably conscripted when the battle was happening here,” George pointed out.</p><p>“Truuuue, true.” Dream smiled. It was a very good find, not even ten minutes into their search. Did it mean The Blade might have been a student too?</p><p>“Oooo guys look, this one has writing on it!” Bad pointed to one of the portraits without a picture.</p><p>On the back of the frame, where the painting should be, someone had written, “BITCH BOY LOL,” in large red (was that chalk?) letters. Underneath that, in blue, was written, “yeha that’s what yoir mom casll me,” and finally, again in red, “LEARN TO SPELL ‘MUM’ RIGHT IDIOT.”</p><p>“Looks like vandals to me,” said Ant.</p><p>“Yeah, not very nice ones either,” Bad muttered, and reached to start smudging the letters.</p><p>Dream grabbed his arm, “Bad wait, we can’t change it. It could be important.”</p><p>“Yeah but if its just vandals, it has nothing to do with the ghosts, so we can get rid of it.”</p><p>“I agree with Dream; we should leave it,” George said, leaning down to read the plaque. “Who’s painting was this anyway? Ske-something.”</p><p>Bad looked around at the empty hall. “Ske-something-or-other, if you are here, I’m really sorry they did this to your painti—ow!”</p><p>Sapnap smacked him on the shoulder. “We can’t invite them to talk yet! We’re just asking for trouble that way! Even if we don’t actually know their name.”</p><p>With the excitement of having already found some solid info, the Dreamteam left the entry hall, and started to make their way through to the right wing. As they went, they all noted details of the architecture here and there, and George hastily noted them down, updating his map when needed. The right wing of the university boasted two floors of lavish and comfortable dorm rooms, each with two beds, and access to a small balcony, in the cases of those on the first floor. There were also various common rooms, a kitchen, bathrooms, a small hobbyist room, and a library. They swept through each room with their torches, noting the lack of dust in certain rooms, the sudden drop in temperature in others. Dream felt the dizziness return again, but did his best to push it aside. Being here was exhilarating, like nothing he’d experienced before, and they hadn’t even seen a single ghost yet. When they reached the first floor, which was mostly common rooms and bedrooms, with the exception of the library, the dizziness increased, and his hand latched onto the gilded banister beside him. There was someone here, someone who was probably very active. Maybe even two of them. He told the others as such, and took out his water bottle to take a drink.</p><p>“We’ll be extra careful here, ok? Start with the small rooms, and work our way around to the library, then we go to the next floor as fast as possible.”</p><p>This floor was just as fancy as the last, but significantly messier. The ground floor was by no means in a good state, but this was much worse, like a hoard of children had simultaneously had a massive tantrum in each bedroom, with pillows and paper strewn about. Nothing looked broken though, which was odd, considering the mess. By this point the sun had almost set, making them rely almost solely on the light from their torches. With Dream’s earlier warning, everyone had become more on edge, with Ant and Sapnap needing some encouraging to enter rooms at times. Dream didn’t blame them. With the stuff strewn around, and only the beam of the torch, it was easy to see things in the mess of shadows the rooms had to offer. </p><p>Eventually they came to the library. It was huge, joining onto the second floor, with rows and rows of tall shelves everywhere. Unlike the rest of the building, though, a thin film of dust lay on every surface. Cobwebs littered the shelves, and loose pieces of paper sat in piles on the ground, as if someone had pulled out page upon page from a self-full of books. Once again, Dream suggested they look separately around the room, but not to leave it until the whole group was ready to. Dream chose his own little corner to look through, at the back of the room, where a few desks and lounges had been set up to let the student’s study. Their goal here, was both to look for obvious clues, and find any extra doors George had missed when he looked online. </p><p>Dream took a deep breath after glancing over a few of the desks, and finding nothing of note. His vision was starting to swim. The light-headedness and dizziness were more overwhelming here than it had been anywhere else so far, and he took a moment to steady himself, taking another sip of water. He was grateful for the coldness of the room, letting the chill wash over him, allowing him to bring himself back to the moment. As he was about to put the bottle away, the temperature plummeted, the icy sting of the air taking him by surprise, and he dropped his bottle, which loudly clattered to the ground. He froze, and the air returned to the slight chill it had held before. He looked around wildly; even though nothing looked out of the ordinary, he knew he wasn’t alone.</p><p>“Dream, you ok?” George called, from where he stood behind rows of shelves. Dream noticed he was out of sight of the whole group. He was not happy about that.</p><p>“I’m good!” He called back. “I think something’s here, though. I’m almost done with my corner though, so I should be fine!” He hoped.</p><p>“We’ll be with you in a second!” Ant reassured.</p><p>Dream nodded to himself and let out the breath he’d been holding in, reaching down to pick up his bottle from the floor. It was then he saw it, a red leather-bound book, sitting half underneath the desk. He frowned, and reached to pick it up, moving to brush the dust off it, before realizing there was no dust on it in the first place. He glanced around, and stood, looking it over. There was no writing on either cover, and it looked to be in very good condition. Most likely left here by a previous group of investigators then. “Wonder what they found,” Dream murmured to himself, opening it to take a look.</p><p>As soon as he did, the freezing temperature returned, cold enough that it burned his lungs as he stilled. Before he could read anything, he felt something even colder, something solid, something sharp, press up against his throat, and his eyes widened. He didn’t breathe out of fear. All he could hear was the roar of his blood racing in his ears. There was something, someone, behind him. He could feel it. His vision was swimming again, but this time he didn’t know if it was due to the lack of air, of the dizzy spell. He felt himself tip forward slightly, and gasped as the sharp edge of the thing at his neck broke the skin, the sting clearing his head only a little.</p><p>“Drop it.” The voice was barely a whisper, but at the same time, it sounded so loud in the dead-silent room. It was deep, gravelly, almost more of a growl than a command. It came from behind him, slightly above and to the left. Whatever spirit this was, they were either decently taller than Dream, or they could fly. Or both. But now was not the time to ruminate on ghost heights. “Now.” The blade sank a little deeper, and Dream did his best not to yell in pain, letting the book drop to the floor with a muffled thud. “Now get the hell out.”</p><p>The presence vanished, and Dream made a dash to the libraries exit. “Guys, we gotta go now!” The rest didn’t argue, which he was glad for, joining him in the hallway outside. Dream slammed the heavy double doors behind him, collapsing against them in relief.</p><p>“What’s the—DREAM YOUR NECK! WHAT THE HELL?!” Sapnap yelled.</p><p>“Language! Holy muffin Dream, what happened?” Bad’s eyes went wide when he saw the thin slice on Dream’s neck.</p><p>George and Ant were already hurrying to get a bandage out of Ant’s backpack, while Sapnap stared on in shock. It was usually him getting into these sorts of scrapes, his lack of foresight getting the better of him. Dream though, he usually knew better. He admitted he could be rash at times, especially when he was sure it would lead to a major discovery, but never enough to actually let himself get hurt.</p><p>“I… found something,” he said slowly. Ant began to clean and cover the wound. “It was... a book, a journal maybe. I thought it was something left here by some other investigators, because it seemed pretty new in comparison to, well, all of this. But I guess I was wrong. The—the owner of it, I guess, they attacked me, physically. They even spoke to me. They sounded really angry. It was a man, I think. Tall, or could fly. I only sensed it for about a second before it manifested, so, I don’t know. They’re probably powerful.”</p><p>“Oh my gosh Dream, that sounds so scary,” whispered Bad. “I guess they didn’t want you reading whatever was in there?”</p><p>“Mhm, guess not.” Dream shot Ant a thankful look as he finished wrapping Dream’s neck. The cut still stung like bitch, especially with the added disinfectant. He took some deep breaths and did his best not to seem too shaken.</p><p>“What did it look like?” Sapnap asked.</p><p>“It—,” Dream started, and frowned. “I don’t think I ever actually… saw anything.” He had been looking down, in front of him, where his assailant’s weapon should have been, but there had been nothing there. It must not have registered in the moment.</p><p>“So, it can physically manifest without being seen, huh,” said Sapnap. “This guy must be really really strong. George, add that to the map.”<br/>
“Already on it, don’t worry.” </p><p>Ant was staring at the library doors, brow furrowed. He had been silent this whole time. “Ant, what’s up?” </p><p>“It’s a very strong spirit, we think. And, well.” He paused, and looked Dream in the eyes. “Do you think he could have attacked you with an axe?”</p><p>“Maybe, I mean I—oh.” Dream turned back to look at the door. “There’s no way, right? It could have been literally any of the students here.”</p><p>“Wait what’s going on,” George asked.</p><p>Dream started grinning. “Bad, Bad, Bad, he liked reading, right? And he studied a lot? The Blade? Right?”</p><p>“He did, but—wait, NO WAY! You think that was The Blade?!” </p><p>“I mean, maybe,” Dream said. Holy shit, if this actually was The Blade, if they had found him already, their luck would be insanely high. Even if Dream had almost died.</p><p>“Oh my goodness! Already! Wait, Dream, didn’t you say he said something to you? What was it? What did he sound like?”</p><p>At this point, Dream’s nerves had mostly calmed down, replaced with sheer excitement. He had not been expecting an actual encounter on their first night, much less the ghost that was going to make them famous among the paranormal community. And Dream had spoken with him. Or, at least, he had been spoken to.</p><p>“Uh. He didn’t say much actually. Just to drop the book and leave.” He could hear the voice in his head, as clear as he had only minutes before. Even the ghost’s voice (The Blade’s, he hoped), sounded cold.</p><p>“We don’t actually know if it’s him yet though,” George said. “We need to get way more proof first. I’m going to put it down as ‘Angry knife ghost’ on the map for now, ok?”</p><p>“Aw, but saying I was attacked by ‘angry knife ghost,’” Dream made air quotes around the word, “Sounds so much less cool than, ‘I was attacked by The Blade.’”</p><p>“Too bad, Dream, George is right,” Sapnap said. “You’re always so quick to assume stuff like this. It’s cost us big time before.” He was right, but Dream was too stubborn to admit it.</p><p>“Fine, call it ‘angry knife ghost then.’ Let’s finish looking around. We’ve still got like, two buildings.”</p><p>“Are you sure you’re up for that?” Bad asked. The other three looked similarly worried.</p><p>“Yeah I’ll be fine. We should just properly stay as a group for now, ok?” The group got ready to head to the second floor, and Dream shot another glance at the library door, touching his neck gently. He couldn’t wait to go back in there and see what was in that book.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Awwww yeah, it's ghost time babey! I'm so so excited for the next chapter, for reasons :3c  Once again, please let me know what you think! Any and all feedback is really appreciated!</p><p>Also, for those of you that aren't aware, this fic is named after one of my favourite (and one of the more spooky) songs in the Minecraft OST, which is basically all I've listened to while writing this. It's no Pigstep though, that's for sure.</p><p>I've also decided to update this at least once a week, maybe twice, which isn't much of a schedule, but it's something.</p><p>Come say hi on tumblr! My url is blazing-spectre.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. Chapter 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The rest of the search of Hornsbury Bay went by relatively uneventfully after Dream’s run-in with the angry library ghost, for which Dream was very grateful. The whole building was fancy as all hell, and while it was by no means tidy, it was still clean, barely any dust or dirt around. They made their way through the offices and labs of the middle building, and then through the huge lecture halls to the left. Looking around at the rows of desks in each room, bordered by towering windows that showed off the bay below, Dream had to admit the students here would have had a good time of things, and if he had been alive back then, he would have felt honoured to attend, as he was sure those who had, also felt. The rooms were well-stocked for the times, with lots of charts, writings, and instruments that would make any academic ecstatic.</p><p>The by then end of the night, they had been relying solely on torchlight for about two hours. Even though they decided to make it quick in order not to step on any more ghosts’ toes, the sheer scale of the place meant there was a lot to be explored. It had a very simple layout on paper, and yet actually walking through the halls and rooms left Dream feeling lost and disorientated. He was glad the dizziness had tapered off here, and that he was with friends, or he would be in trouble. George’s map would also prove invaluable in the days to come. At least it looked like they would just be exploring the admin and dorm buildings, as Dream had yet to feel any sign of activity in the vast lecture halls on the left. Although given his recent run-in in the library, he wasn’t sure much exploration in search of clues was even needed at this point. He had to go back there, eventually. </p><p>The Dreamteam made their way back to the admin building, ready to return to the motel and breathe after their first night. While tired, it looed like everyone was in reasonably high spirits, with even Sapnap and Ant no longer flinching at the slightest provocation. Dream chalked it up to the fact that nothing else sinister had been found. Which wasn’t to say they had found nothing. Here and there were signs of other people who had been there before them—photographs, a phone charger, a blue hoodie—nothing a ghost from the 1600s would leave behind. They even found a small nook in one of the admin offices that held a sleeping bag, a half-eaten block of chocolate, and a high school physics text book. Scott had told Dream that all sorts of people had tried looking into the hauntings and the history of Hornsbury in the past, but he never suspected those people would include children.</p><p>They also ran into more of the chalk graffiti, this time in yellow, red, and pink. Whatever it had once said was illegible, though, as it had all been completely smudged out, leaving only a blur of colour, and the faintest of lines. Bad spent ages staring at it, trying to find some meaning to the words, before Dream pulled him away, reminding him that they could look into the clues around the place later, even if those clues had been left by idiotic vandals. It was something. He shivered as he tugged on Bad’s sleeve; it was getting cold, and he wanted to get out of there and rest. </p><p>The Dreamteam were quiet as they exited the campus, and walked back to the beach. The cloying warmth of the summer air hit Dream hard, and he tugged at the bandage around his neck, which was starting to feel damp with sweat. Everyone looked sleepy, lost in thought. He couldn’t blame them. They had a lot to think about. The sting on his neck, for one, was giving him a lot of questions, first and foremost, who was the ghost in the library, and why didn’t they want him looking inside that book? What kind of ghost were they? How could Dream go back and confront them without getting hurt? His friends were talking now, but he was too busy in his own head. Part of him was scared, not for his life, but because he had never felt this drawn towards a particular ghost before. It was ghosts in general that interested him, that had him studying for nights on end, different methods of communication, repelling, cleansing, but this was different. This ghost was hiding a secret he wanted the answer to. Dream reached up to touch the bandage again. He knew the wound on his neck was nothing personal, but to Dream, it felt like a sign, both a warning and an invitation. An invitation that only a fool would accept. Plus, he reasoned, there’s a chance this is the Blade, and only an idiot would avoid a lead on one of the most mysterious ghosts around. This could be his ticket, his claim to fame. The first real win for the Dreamteam.</p><p> </p><p>The boys collapsed when they got home, eating a quick dinner together, before turning in for the night. Dream glanced at the clock as he climbed into bed. 1am. This would probably be the earliest night he’d have here, and he was keen to get to sleep and make the most of it. The night air had turned from muggy, to a comfortable chill, and he pulled his duvet tight around him, nice and snug, before glancing to his right, where George was tucking himself in.</p><p>“Hey George, wanna go back to the library again with me tomorrow?” He raised his eyebrows and grinned.</p><p>“Um, not really?” George said, glancing at Dream’s neck. “We should probably wait a while before we make the knife ghost angry again.”</p><p>“George please, come on. We literally have to go back there and investigate. We have to. This could actually be the guy we’ve been sent after—Hey!” He was cut off by a pillow to the face. “George, what the hell? That could have hit my neck wound!”</p><p>George raised an eyebrow. “The way you were feeling it up on the way home I’m surprised you care.”</p><p>“It’s my battle scar,” he boasted, tilting his head back to show off his still-covered neck. “Maybe I should just keep the bandages on so I look like one of those edgy anime characters. It proves that I was chosen for greatness.”</p><p> “Chosen as an idiot maybe,” George shot back, looking very unimpressed. “What, you think because a big bad ghost whispered in your ear and attacked you, that you’re all special?” </p><p>Maybe. Dream lay down and started at the ceiling, pulling his blanket back up to his chin, nice and warm. He was considering getting a second sheet now, the cold was coming on stronger.  “Whatever. I just think it’s important that we go back there. It’s the biggest lead we have, so we have to eventually. And if the two of us go, it’ll be safer, right?”</p><p>“I guess,” George said, and Dream heard the rustle of sheets, and a click, as George turned off his bedside lamp. “You should probably bring Sapnap though, if it’s a hostile ghost. Anyway, we can talk more about this tomorrow.” A beat of silence. “Hey, mind if I turn the aircon on? It’s so hot right now.”</p><p>Dream frowned. “No? Keep it off. Just open the window more or something. Actually, can we close the window? It’s kinda cold.”</p><p>“Whatever, Dream. Lets just go to sleep.”</p><p>Dream closed his eyes and sighed. “Yeah, ok. Night, George. See you tomorrow.”</p><p>“Good night Dream. Hope you have pleasant… dreams. Heh.”</p><p>Dream hoped so too. “Good niiiiiight Geoooorge,” he sing-songed back, before letting unconsciousness claim him.</p><p> </p><p>The first thing he noticed when he regained consciousness, was that he was still freezing his ass off. He went to pull up his blankets around him, before realizing that there were no blankets to grab in the first place. He opened his eyes, and blinked, trying to let… whatever he was seeing, come into focus. Wherever he was, it wasn’t the motel. In fact, it didn’t look like it was anywhere. He sat up, staring at the ground underneath him, or what should be ground. In every direction, as far as he could see, Dream was encased by a dark, misty void. The floor beneath him felt solid, but it didn’t look real, like at any second, whatever was holding him up would disappear, letting him plummet into inky depths. He was still in the green hoodie and jeans he had gone to sleep in, and he pulled the hood up over his head, trying to block out his surroundings even a little. He stood, deciding that looking at the ground was a bad idea, instead focusing on where he assumed the horizon would be. There was no direction here. He hated it. His head was starting to swim. This had to be some kind of messed up dream. </p><p>He took a deep breath. “George!” If there was a chance he wasn’t alone here, he needed to find out immediately. “SAPNAP! ANYONE, PLEASE!” He called out for his friends, but his voice was swallowed by the mist, barely traveling an inch. He looked around wildly for something, he didn’t care what. A way to wake up, perhaps.</p><p>“Hello.”</p><p>Dream whipped around, almost tripping over his own feet in the process. The deep, gravelly voice seemed to come from all around him, and he searched the void desperately for its source. “Hello? Where are you? Where am I?” He waited for an answer.</p><p>“What do you mean, ‘Where am I?’” Whoever it was, they sounded bored. And somehow familiar. And slightly annoyed.</p><p>Dream pulled his hoodie closer to him in an attempt to block out the cold. It was getting stronger by the second. “I mean, why am I in… What even is this? It’s like limbo or something. Why can’t I see you, or, I don’t know, anything?”</p><p>“Because I don’t want you to see me. Don’t know why you can’t see anything else though.”</p><p>“Who are you? I’ve met you before, haven’t I?” Whoever this was, they were the only thing outside of himself he had to focus on right now, and he was going to take advantage of that until he woke up. Or escaped. He hoped it was the former. “What the hell is this place?”</p><p>The voice was quiet for another moment. Dream was almost scared they had left him there, lost and alone. “Why are you asking so many darn questions?” A weary sigh. “You’re somehow in my library. Again.” </p><p>Ah. Dream was suddenly a lot less reassured by the voice. While it was true that he had wanted to go back and talk to the ghost that had assaulted him, this was definitely not what he had in mind. “Oh, my bad.” He tried to sound as light-hearted as he could manage, hoping to mask his building fear. </p><p>“Want to explain what you’re doing here? Why you were here in the first place? Or even better, you could leave again.”</p><p>Dream laughed nervously. “Trust me, I would if I could. Remember how I said I couldn’t see shit? This isn’t a library to me; it is literally just the void. But hey, I’d love to wake up, and not have to have nightmares about the guy who almost took my head off, so if you could tell me the way out, that would be great.” He wanted to back away, to hide from the presence that he could now feel, but it was directionless, everywhere. “Or at least, I don’t know, give me something better to look at?”</p><p>He heard a low chuckle from all around him. He couldn’t tell if it was sinister or amused. “You’re asleep right now? I was wondering why I didn’t see you come in through the door. Still, doesn’t explain why you’re here.” There was a pause, and Dream felt his heart drop as he heard the sound of steel scraping against what he assumed was the wooden floor of the library outside his vision. “But if you want out, I could help with that.”</p><p>“No no no no no, wait wait wait, don’t do this, please, I wanna leave, I really do, I just literally have NO idea how.” Dream tried to move away, but the lack of direction had him spinning in circles, hands raised in front of him in order to block… something.</p><p>“You had your chance,” the voice told him harshly, and he shivered, both from the cold, and from fear. “Maybe this will teach your friends to stay away from ghosts.” The wound on his neck suddenly exploded in pain, and Dream cried out, clawing at his throat. It was absolutely freezing, and he tried desperately to pull out the sting of the cold with his fingers. He was about to break the skin, before it subsided completely, leaving him gasping. He collapsed on the floor, suddenly void of all energy. From directly in front of him, the voice spoke again. “Heh? What the heck?” </p><p>Dream looked up in surprise. “Huh? Why aren’t I…” He drifted off. In front of him stood… something. All he could make out was a vague silhouette, blurred by all the mist. The ghost was directly in front of him now, and Dream could see them. Whoever this was, they were shorter than he imagined, maybe even shorter than Dream himself, but not by much. To compensate, though, the ghost’s feet floated a solid foot off the ground, causing Dream to crane his head to look up at their face. Not that he could see it, or anything else, for that matter. “You.. you were going to kill me.”</p><p>The figure sighed, and gently sank until their feet touched the ground. “I guess you really are asleep. Don’t know how you’re here, though. Guess this means I’m stuck with you for now.”</p><p>“Haha, you don’t have to say it like it’s a bad thing,” Dream joked, doing his best to push aside his fear, even with his heart still racing, and his neck wound throbbing slightly.</p><p>“It is a bad thing.”</p><p>“Oh.” There was a long pause. To Dream, it almost felt awkward. “So uh—”</p><p>“Mind tell—” The figure spoke at the same time, and they once again lapsed into uncomfortable silence. Dream stared pointedly at his running shoes, but he could feel the ghost’s gaze boring into him. He didn’t try to look up. This… really sucked. Everything about this was the absolute worst. He was stuck in a dream void with someone who had almost killed him twice, and couldn’t even hold a conversation with, let alone leave.</p><p>Eventually, Dream stood, feeling the figure’s gaze follow him. He was about do something very stupid, but he figured it was his best shot at at least making something out of the situation he was in. He stuck out his hand, towards the ghost. “I’m Dream. What’s your name?”</p><p>Again, there was silence, the figure staring intently at his hand. “… Techno.”</p><p>Dream let both his hand and his mouth drop. “You’re Techno?! The student slash soldier at Hornsbury?” Holy shit. This might be fortuitous after all. A gateway to information about the Blade, right at his fingertips. Not the Blade himself, but Dream wasn’t gonna let that dampen his mood. This was the first good thing to happen in this horrible dream, aside from not dying.</p><p>The figure, Techno, shuffled awkwardly. “Uuuh. Among other things, yeah. I mean, I’m in Hornsbury. Makes sense that I was a student there.”</p><p>“Oh, this is so so great!” Dream exclaimed. “I have so much to ask you. Mind if I do some questions now?”</p><p>“Uh. Yeah, kinda, actually.”</p><p>“Ok, first of all,” Dream carried on, ignoring him, “why do you talk like that? All... not old and fancy, I mean. Didn’t you die hundreds of years ago?”</p><p>“Didn’t I just say—”  Techno sighed deeply. “Yes, I did. It’s not my favourite subject to talk about, however.”</p><p>“Oh. Yeah. I uh, guess that might be kinda traumatic or something for you.” It was getting awkward again. God damn it. “But you didn’t answer my first question.”</p><p>Techno cocked his head for a second, then chuckled. The low rasp of it echoed through the void, and for the first time, Dream felt… not exactly comfortable, but as comfy as he could, considering where he found himself. It wasn’t a bad sound. “Us ancient ghosts aren’t the only ones here, ya know. You can pick up speech patterns from anyone if they hang around you long enough. The dead aren’t just frozen in the state they’re in at birth, you know.”</p><p>“Oh. Cool, I guess,” Dream said. It wasn’t the answer he was expecting, but considering the amount of paranormal investigators who had gone missing at the college in the last decade, and before even that, it wasn’t impossible. “That makes sense.”</p><p>“Ok, my turn to ask a question, then.” The boredom was starting to edge from Techno’s voice, and Dream smiled a little to himself. This was the first time he’d been able to have a proper conversation with a ghost, and it was already turning out better than he could have hoped for.</p><p>“Go for it.”</p><p>“Why are you here, at Hornsbury, in the first place. Do you also want information about me?” The last sentence sounded almost tired.</p><p>“No, actually,” Dream reassured him. “We want to know about a friend of yours.”</p><p>“Oh? Which one?” Techno asked, sounding a lot more interested than he had before. “Wil? It’s not Skeppy, is it?”</p><p>“No, I don’t know who Skeppy is,” Dream frowned. “It’s not... I’m guessing that’s Wilbur?” Techno nodded. “It’s not Wilbur either, although if you could get me in touch with him too that would be great.”</p><p>“Hmm. That could be tricky.” Techno lowered his head in thought, before whipping it back up in alarm. From what Dream could make out from his fuzzy silhouette, his hair looked quite long. “Oh god, it’s not Tommy you want, is it?”</p><p>“Who—no, I don’t know who that is either.”</p><p>“Probably for the best.” Was that… a joke? He sounded completely monotone, as he had this whole time, but Dream could sense a lightheartedness to it.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess? Anyway, I want to ask you about someone called the Blade. That’s probably not his real name though, so I guess it could have been one of the guys you mentioned. You two were close, right? Or, worked together, or something.”</p><p>Techno tilted his head again, and Dream watched as a long lock of hair fell with it. He was curious now. He’d have to ask Bad if he found any pictures of Techno while studying the Blade. “Let me get this straight. You don’t want to know about me, but you want to know…. About the Blade…?”</p><p>Dream paused. He hadn’t offended him, had he? Techno had already almost killed him twice. He didn’t want to push his luck again. “I mean, I’d like to know more about you too, sure! The job I’m here on is specifically about the Blade, though. And I have reason to believe you might know something about him.”</p><p>“Because we were friends.” Techno sounded incredulous, and Dream was starting to worry again, but he nodded nonetheless. The ghost laughed, shaking his head. “Ok, I might know a bit about the Blade.” Dream wasn’t sure what he had said to amuse him so much.</p><p>“Sweet! Guess I’ll just, fire off a few questions, then?”</p><p>“Ah—not yet,” Techno interrupted. The air in the space around them turned frigid, and the sudden hostility was palpable. He turned head on to Dream, feet lifting off the ground as, what looked like a cape, billowed out behind him. “After I answer these, I want you to stay out of the library, ok? I can’t promise the Blade will be… as forgiving as I was earlier. The only reason I’m giving you a chance now, is because I am literally stuck with you, ok?” Dream shivered again (it had just gotten colder, but he was also somewhat terrified now), and nodded slowly. “Good, because I think you’re annoying, and the sooner you’re done with this place, the better.”</p><p>Dream sent Techno what he hoped looked like a smile, but on his lips, it felt more like a grimace. “Understood. Ok, first question—”</p><p>“DREAM, PLEASE WAKE UP!”</p><p>He shot up from where he was lying down, head almost colliding with Sapnap’s. He was back in his bed, with the Dreamteam standing around him, all looking worried. His neck was stinging like crazy, but he ignored it for the moment, shaking his head to regain his awareness. What the hell had just happened? “Guys, you’re not gonna believe what just happened.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>lol this was WAY longer than I thought it would be. THEY'VE FINALLY ACTUALLY TALKED TO EACH OTHER! CAN I GET A POGCHAMP (also help MCYT is slowly ruining my vocabulary).</p><p>This has gotten way more attention than I ever thought it would, and I wanna thank everyone who has left comments and kudos SO much for your support. It really means the world to me &lt;3 Once again, please let me know what you think, or hit me up on tumblr or twitter at @blazing-spectre!</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Chapter 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>First off, thank you all so much for the kudos and comments!! This fic is very much me selfishly wanting a ghost fic and also a fic with PROPER slow burn, but hearing how much you guys are enjoying it, and getting to see all your theories about what's going to happen, or about the lore and stuff, has made writing this so much more fun :D</p><p>And thank you all so much for 500 kudos holy shit. I never thought a fic of mine would get this far, and it warms my heart to know that you guys like it so much :'3   Now, I hope you enjoy the new chapter! It was definitely the hardest to write so far, but also the most fun.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Dream, are you ok? What the heck was that?”  Bad’s worried voice, combined with the visible relief on everyone’s faces, tipped Dream off.</p><p>“What was… what? What happened?” </p><p>“You were meant to be up an hour ago, Dream,” Ant said. “George told us your alarm was going off the whole time, and you didn’t notice, so we’ve been trying to wake you up. How are you feeling? You can tell us what happened after.” </p><p>Dream paused for a moment. It had felt weird to be pulled straight from his conversation with Techno to… this. He took a second to assess everything. The temperature felt normal, no nausea or dizziness, he was a bit dehydrated, but that was easily fixable. The only thing that was off was his neck. It was still stinging like crazy. In a flash of panic, he remembered Techno trying to take his head off with his… sword? Whatever it was, Dream had probably messed the wound up something bad. “Be back in a sec!” He said, jumping out of bed and to the bathroom, where the bloody reflection of his neck confronted him. “Oh god damn it.” He took the bandages off as gently as possible, expecting to see the raw scratches his nails must have left, but they weren’t there. All he saw was a faint ring that ran around his whole throat, and a few beads of blood forming at the front. What had Techno done to him? Another question onto the pile, it seemed.</p><p>After patching himself up again, he gathered the (understandably) worried Dreamteam in the living area, and told them everything that had happened in his sleep. Well, everything important. They didn’t need to know about how scared, and excited the whole thing had made Dream feel, how comfortable he had felt, against all odds, talking to this long-dead spectre. Which wasn’t to say he was looking forward to their next meeting. </p><p>“So tonight,” he said, after wrapping up most of the details, “I wanna go back to the library, and see how much he can tell me. He knows the Blade, and he’s already said he’d answer our questions, on the condition that we stay away from him in the future, which, I mean, it’s a bit rude, but it seems fair. He’s pretty polite for a territorial ghost, actually.”</p><p>“Okay, well, now that we know this, I might tag along with you then,” George said, adjusting his glasses. “You mentioned he was still a bit hostile when you were talking, so, I dunno. We should make sure you’re ok with him.”</p><p>Dream appreciated the concern, and before his conversation with Techno, he would have loved to have his friend with him. But now, he wanted to go it alone. “Eh, I appreciate it, but you know, this agreement I have might only apply to me, so if you guys go into the library or something, you might get attacked. I mean, we have at least two ghosts with weapons there, now.” George looked a little dejected. “Well, you can watch the door or something, so if something does happen, you know, you can make sure I get out ok!”</p><p>“Yeah, that works. I’ll keep watch I guess.”</p><p>Sapnap snickered. “Dream just wants to keep all the cool ghosts to himself, so he can look all cool while we have to look around for stuff.”</p><p>Dream threw a pillow at his face. “Hey, there are pleeenty of other ghosts there for you guys to chat up. He said, what was it, Wilbur, Tom... Timmy? Something like that. And Skeppy. It’ll be good if we can talk to all of them somehow! We have got the spirit boxes and stuff, so that should help. Maybe we can leave our own chalk messages or something,” he joked. </p><p> </p><p>And that was the plan for the night; see how many other ghosts they could contact. They had a lot more gear this time around, the spirit boxes, UV torches, salt, several backpack’s worth of goods. Bad also insisted on extra first aid gear, which no one turned down. Their second trip to the campus felt a lot less tense as they walked along the beach, kicking up sand and shells, while Bad told them about his plans to talk to the ghosts with chalk, and leave them small messages to let them know he wasn’t a threat. It felt peaceful, almost like they were on a holiday together or something.</p><p>The only thing weighing on Dream, was that he had yet to find any answer to how he had appeared in the library last night in the first place. He knew his senses were more attuned to the supernatural than those of his friends, but this was a whole ‘nother level. Even more worrying, he couldn’t tell if what had called him there had something to do with the library itself, or its inhabitants. The latter was a chilling thought. Maybe he’d be able to get those answers when he talked to Techno tonight.</p><p>When they reached the campus, they split into three groups; Dream and George would head to the library, while Sapnap explored the lower floor of the dorms, and Ant and Bad took on the admin building alone. It was a prime chalk writing location, apparently. The eerie lack of sound was still very much present, and the only moonlight that could be seen from outside was muddy and muted at best, but despite the dark and stillness, the halls and rooms of the campus felt more awake somehow, as thought upon entering, someone had administered an energy drink into the walls of the whole building. Dream asked George if he felt it, and he told him no. </p><p>“I think they might be expecting us,” Dream said, with a grin.</p><p>“You’re way too cheerful about this,” George said. “They could kill us in a second.”</p><p>“Eh, I recon I could outsmart them,” Dream said, with a cocky grin, which wasn’t a complete lie; he had tricked his fair share of ghosts in the past.</p><p>“High IQ ghost hunter plays,” George chuckled, and came to a standstill in front of the library. “Okay, we have arrived. You ready?”</p><p>“As much as I’ll ever be,” Dream replied, and gently pushed one of the huge wooden doors inwards. In reality, he wasn’t feeling that confident at all. He had almost died in here twice now, after all. But he wanted answers, and Techno had them, so what choice did he have? As the door swung shut behind him, leaving him truly alone in the large space, Dream suddenly wished that maybe another choice would be nice, preferable in fact. Talking to Techno in the dreamscape was fun and all, because none of it felt real. But the icy sting of the library, the dusty air, the long, stretching shadows of bookshelves that framed his torchlight, they were all very, very real.</p><p>“Good luck!” George called out from the other side of the door. </p><p>Dream heard, but didn’t answer, too focused on what he was about to do. He walked down rows of books, to the centre of the room, not too far from the study area he had been attacked in last time, and closed his eyes for a second. He was starting to feel dizzy. This was… good, he hoped. He opened his eyes again, and turned his torch down to the lowest setting, letting the darkness settle in around him, before cupping a hand to his mouth. “Techno! It’s Dream! I’m here to finish our conversation from last night!”</p><p>He took a deep breath. Speaking to Techno in person suddenly seemed a lot more terrifying. For the longest time, there was nothing, just the sound of Dream’s feet scraping on the floor as he shifted his weight impatiently. It was the temperature that tipped him off, the sudden cool that left him feeling frozen in place. “Techno?” The ghost hadn’t seemed too sociable last night, but even then, Dream was out here, calling out to him, and he was leaving him hanging. He had to say something. “I know you’re there, big guy.”</p><p>There was movement in the corner of his vision, and he whirled around. Something red flashed before him for a second, and he turned his torch towards it, finding only empty air. “Why are you back.” The voice… wasn’t Techno’s. Whatever it was, it sounded distorted beyond belief, like a hoard of voices speaking in unison. It had the same grating monotone, but instead of the bored annoyance Dream had been expecting, there was only anger. It echoed around the room, impossible to locate. </p><p>“Who are you?” Dream asked, against his better judgement. This was Techno’s library, wasn’t it? Why wasn’t he here? And who the hell was this… thing? He was properly scared now. And he was right to be. In his hand, his torch suddenly lit up, as bright as it could go, and Dream almost dropped it, before seeing the looming figure in front of him. </p><p>Six foot something, made even taller by the solid gold headpiece that sat upon long pink locks of hair. He looked absolutely regal, refined… deranged. His outfit looked like something you would see on a prince in a movie, white lace and gold trim, with a flowing fur trimmed cape billowing out behind him. He was made even taller by foot between him and the floor, floating there like some angel of death, massive purple and gold axe clenched in his ring-adorned fist. Dream was suddenly overwhelmed by the stench of blood, and it took everything he had to stay upright. What took him by surprise the most, was the Blade’s (there was no doubt in his mind at this point) face. It was certainly handsome, but in an unsettling way, the kind that indicated danger above all else, and, well. Dream had to focus for a second, to make sure he wasn’t seeing things. Did he have tusks? They… certainly looked like tusks, accentuated by the snarl that was now contorting the Blade’s oh so perfect face. </p><p>This. Was amazing. Dream almost dropped his torch a second time. Holy shit. Holy shit this was real. This was real, and the Blade was standing right in front of him, looking terrible, and awesome, and powerful. All Dream could do was stare, and slowly back away, glancing nervously at the axe. “Uh. Hi. Blade.”</p><p>The figure barely moved, but again, Dream heard that terrifying voice. “You weren’t supposed to come back. Leave.”</p><p>Time for Dream to do something stupid. He looked the Blade directly in his blood-red eyes. “Not until you answer my questions. Your friend was meant to meet me here, and answer them for me, but it looks like he’s a no show. So I’ll ask you instead.” Dream quickly reached into his backpack pocket to grab his packet of salt, and dump it all on the ground in front of him. It probably would have no effect on the Blade, as it only deterred regular or weak spirits, and the monstrous man in front of him felt like neither of those things. He was awesome, in a literal sense.</p><p>The Blade disappeared for a second, before reappearing directly in front of Dream, who let out a small yell. He was right in his face now, and Dream felt trapped. He desperately wanted to leave. But he also wanted answers. He took a step back, and the ghost in front of him chuckled. It sounded so sinister, so unlike anything Dream had ever heard. Well, not entirely. It was similar to the way Techno had made fun of him last night. Damn he missed Techno right about now. Dream had always pushed his luck in dangerous situations, but it had always payed off in the end. This… he wasn’t so sure. No ghost had ever interacted with him like this before. “You’re an idiot.” The ghost slowly lowered, until they were on eye level, and Dream did his best not to look away. “I could kill you, right now, you know. Actually kill you. Not like last time, when.” He paused, and Dream gulped, hoping desperately that the Blade wouldn’t hear. “When my, uh, friend, Techno came at you.” Dream must have been feeling really lightheaded at this point if he had seriously just been considering making a cum joke at the ghost holding a greataxe in one hand like it was nothing.</p><p>“Actually,” he breathed out, trying to stay upright despite the stench of blood mingling with his dizziness. “I’m kind of a genius.” He smirked, but faltered when he saw the hand around the axe hilt clench. “You could kill me, sure, but that would be no fun, would it?”</p><p>The Blade seemed actually taken aback at this. “Actually, it sounds plenty fun to me, ghost hunter. You’ve apparently heard of me, and yet—it was Techno that told me that, by the way—and yet you seem to think snapping your neck right now won’t bring me the most happiness I’ve felt in years. So I really think I should do that right now.” The whole cacophony of voices as one thing was starting to hurt Dream’s head now. It was a trick plenty of powerful ghosts used, but really it just seemed unnecessary. And furthermore, what was he even hearing right now? The Blade sounded almost defensive, awkward, as if he didn’t quite know how to deal with this situation. It was odd to say the least. </p><p>But it reminded Dream that, as powerful as the Blade probably was, he had one supposed weakness. Social situations. Time to keep talking. “You were pretty scary a moment ago, Blade—Can I call you ‘Blade?’ Or would you rather ‘the?’ But now you just seem kinda lame honestly.” Dream half couldn’t believe what he was saying. At this point he felt like he was stalling for time, the Blade only a foot away, those sharp tusks right in font of Dream’s face. He was scared, sure, but there was always something so fun, and exciting about messing with ghosts, and if it meant he would make it out of here alive, he wasn’t going to stop.  “Like, you were all threatening and stuff, and floating, and now you’re just here making empty threats or something? Why are you even bringing up Techno right now? He isn’t here, so it seems pretty rude honestly, like you’re talking about him behind his back or somethi—”</p><p>A spectral hand shot out, towards Dream’s neck, and he felt his breath stop for a second, anticipating the feeling of strong hands around his already wounded throat. Instead, all he got was a burst of cold, as the hand passed right through him. The Blade stared at where his arm was sticking through Dream’s neck for a second, before slowly drawing it back. “I see.” The hand that held the axe was now slowly rising, and Dream started to step backwards, only just realizing that, yes, in fact, the pile of salt on the ground had not deterred the Blade in the slightest. Shit. Maybe it was time to get out of here after all.</p><p>As he was about to turn and run, the ghost before him vanished, and Dream heard the low creaking of the library door being pushed open. “Dream!” George called out to him. “Bad’s found something huge. He think’s he might have just been attacked by the Blade!” </p><p>Dream stood there, dumbfounded, for a second. George had unknowingly just saved his life. And on top of that, there was absolutely no way Bad had just been attacked by the same ghost that had been staring blood-soaked daggers at Dream a second ago. “Uh. Yeah. Cool. I’ll be there in a second.” George nodded, and closed the door again, leaving Dream once more. “Well, you hear that, big guy? Apparently, you just tried to hurt my friend. Kinda rude, again. You could be a little nicer to us, you know.” He smirked to himself, before heading towards the door. For a brief moment, he thought he heard a voice, growling something at him from the darkness, but instead of thinking too much about it, Dream simply blew a kiss to the dark, dusty room, and said in a singsong voice, “See you soon, Blade!” Bullying ghosts wasn’t what he expected to do while at Hornsbury bay, but damn it was a lot of fun to tease someone powerful enough to end you in a second. He may have slightly lowered their chances of getting information from him, though. But he could probably get that from Techno, or from what clues they found around the place. At least now he could, without a doubt, tell Scott Major that the Blade was very real, very much haunting the campus, and by far the most impressive ghost Dream had ever seen.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Thank you so so much for reading! Please let me know what you think! :3</p><p>Come visit my tumblr at blazing-spectre!</p><p>Also, for those of you who don't know, this is the song the fic is named after, and the song I listen to the most while writing this <br/>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozqEMxlEnDg&amp;ab_channel=C418-Topic<br/>It's... certainly some sorta vibe lol</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Chapter 6</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi guys, sorry for the wait, but the next chapter is here! Thank you so much for reading, and hope you enjoy!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>By the time he arrived in the central building, Dream saw the rest of the gang standing around Bad, waiting for what he assumed was himself and George. Ant’s hand rested comfortingly on Bad’s shoulder, who, instead of looking scared, like Dream would have suspected, smiled excitedly when the others approached. Dream figured he might as well hear him out before letting him know about his own, legitimate, meeting with the Blade, from which his heart was still racing. He schooled his features to make sure the breathy excitement from his encounter wouldn’t come through too much, and leaned against the doorway in a manner he hoped came across as casual.</p><p>“So Bad, George tells me you had a run in with a certain someone?” He raised an eyebrow and grinned. Truth be told, he did know whatever Bad had seen couldn’t have been the Blade, and he couldn’t wait to tell him about that a real encounter with the guy was like, but whatever Bad had experienced seemed to have him pretty convinced, if he had dragged everyone over to him instead of waiting for a pre-planned meeting—hourly meetings were typical when on such a long job—, meaning that this would have valuable information one way or another. “We have got to hear this.”</p><p>Bad straightened out his black and red hoodie, and took a moment to look at each of them individually, before taking a deep breath. “Yes! Okay everyone, I don’t want to scare you too much or anything, but I think we might have our guy!” </p><p>“Oh?” Dream didn’t want to take the wind out of his sails just yet. </p><p>Bad nodded emphatically before continuing. “So, I was in one of the upstairs offices, I think it used to be one of the lecturer’s, although it definitely wasn’t a lecturer I saw this time. I was looking around, looking for papers that might have something to do with any of the people Dream’s ghost mentioned—”</p><p>“I mean, he’s hardly my ghost, Bad—”</p><p>“Stop interrupting!” Bad glared at him, and Dream raised his hands in surrender. Someone snickered to his right. “ANYWAY, before this muffin cut me off, I was looking for anything along those lines, and guess what I found!”</p><p>“The… Blade?” George said tentatively.</p><p>“No, not the—well, I’m building up to that, but what I found first, was THIS!” He proudly held up a small bunch of papers for the group to see. It looked like some sort of list, but whatever it was, it was too far away for Dream to read. Judging by everyone else’s confused faces, he wasn’t alone. After a few seconds of no reaction, Bad readjusted his glasses, and started reading. “So this is called, ‘Problem Student List, by prof. Watson.’ And guess what? There are some familiar names on here! See, here it says, “Wil, Tommy, Techno, Skeppy, June, Bekk, Fundy is underlined, Qua—Quackity? What kind of name is that? Anyway, this whoooole page is covered in them, and the last two pages have a list of things each one of them have done wrong. It looks like this Tommy guy could have a page to himself if he tried.”</p><p>“Well, Techno didn’t seem to want me to meet him when we met last night,” Dream said. He pushed off from the door frame, and came to peak over Bad’s shoulder to read it for himself. “What does the professor have to say about Techno, now that we’re here?”</p><p>Bad handed him the paper. Prof. Watson’s handwriting wasn’t the neatest, but he was able to make out the small paragraph nonetheless. “Techno. I don’t know why I thought it was a good idea to let him and Skeppy take hall duty together, as they seem to have claimed the hall for themselves, and made an obstacle course out of it, in order to torment the other students. So far, the one person to get hurt on it so far is Tommy, and Skeppy himself, but Techno may have been throwing paper at them at the time, as well as yelling the usual insults. At this point, I am considering putting him sword training duty with the first years for a week. And hopefully not letting him and Skeppy cross paths during class hours will help keep everyone significantly more civil.</p><p>“Today, Techno missed all his classes due to being preoccupied in the library. Again. I understand that he holds a very strong interest in classical military literature, but sometimes there are things more important than rereading the same text over and over, like studying for example. I will have to have another talk to him about this tomorrow. Maybe Wil can help.” </p><p>Dream grinned as he continued to read. The imposing and gruff image of Techno he had held was being replaced by, quite frankly, a nerdy high school delinquent. This was great, very very great. Both because it meant that this list was probably made around the time the students were all being trained up to become soldiers, so it was somewhat relevant, and because it gave Dream a whole new host of questions to ask Techno when he saw him next. At this rate he’d have to make his own list just to remember them all. He went back to skim-reading, looking for anything that mentioned the Blade. He was sorely disappointed. All he found was that Wil (Wilbur, he assumed) had been creeping out some of the students, and being mean, Tommy’s list was too long to ready, but there was something about vandalism, threats of violence, and women. Whoever this Tommy character was, Dream was kind of looking forward to meeting him. Skeppy and Fundy seemed like general nuisances, and Quackity’s section seemed unfinished, saying only, “If he doesn’t stop yelling in Class I am going to—” before ending abruptly.</p><p>“This is really good, Bad,” he said, handing the list off to Sapnap, who was making grabby motions at it. “We now know a bunch about a lot of different students. It might even give us some clues as to what to look out for if we get haunted by them. We should definitely hang on to it and make some copies.”</p><p>“I’ve already got some pictures,” Bad assured. “But anyway, what’s really important here, is what happened after I took the paper.” He suddenly looked straight ahead, head lowered, and began a dramatic recollection of what went down. “So, I was about to open the next draw to see if I could find more clues, when suddenly, everything went cold. Only a bit but I was still ready for anything. I heard stuff moving behind me, and when I turned around, I saw several books on the floor that weren’t there before! THEN. My torch. Went. Out. It was completely dark, and it was terrifying. I heard more stuff getting thrown about, some of it really really close to me, so I ducked, and I heard this laughter, but it was different to most ghost laughter, it wasn’t really scary, it just sounded like the ghost was having fun? And it was bit annoying. It was like he knew I was trying to look for stuff and purposefully made it harder. Then, everything went so still, and my torch came on, and guess what I saw? There was writing on the desk! It was in bright blue chalk, and it said, ‘Welcome to the worst night of your life!’ How scary is that?”</p><p>“But… what does that have to do with the Blade,” George asked. Dream nodded. Throwing stuff around, and laughing, didn’t seem like the kind of thing the ghost he had just met would do.</p><p>“I’ll show you! He answered my message with a little something that really made me think, you know?”</p><p>“Your message?” Dream frowned. If Bad was already trying to communicate with the ghosts, he wasn’t surprised something like this had happened. Increased activity was expected when you invited it. And this didn’t even sound like an attack, just a… mild scare if anything. Although Bad was more prone to scaring than most of the Dreamteam. It made him a good investigator, as he was always on edge, but it also made him a good target.</p><p>“Yeah, I said hi! You’re trying to talk to the ghosts, Dream, so I thought he might tell me something if I was nice. And I didn’t tell him my real name or anything, so it should be fine.” He started towards the door. “Let me show you where it happened!” </p><p>They made their way out into the reception area, following closely behind Bad. Dream wasn’t too worried for the moment, though. What dizziness he had felt earlier had completely evaporated, and he was sure they were safe for the time being. On the way to the office, he caught sight of the vandalized portraits again. Usually, after decades of being dead, ghosts began to lose themselves. But those who lived here still seemed… human. They could talk, be reasoned with even, and—wait a second. Dream stopped dead in his tracks, causing Sapnap to walk into him, but he didn’t comment on it. Before him was Techno’s portrait, lit up by his torch. Of course. He didn’t know why he didn’t realize sooner. Slowly, gently, he brought his hand up to the canvas, careful not to chip the paint even more. He ran his finger down the now-dead student’s bright pink hair, and grinned when he saw the colour remained the same, no dust there to pollute its hue. The same colour as the Blade’s.</p><p>“What the heck, man,” Sapnap muttered from next to him. “Stop touching up the painting. I know you two get on or whatever, but that’s kinda creepy.”</p><p>Dream grabbed his shoulders and laughed. “I wasn’t—listen, Sapnap, they’re brothers! Or cousins or something, I don’t know, but they’re related somehow! I can’t believe I didn’t realize sooner. Even their faces are pretty similar and everything! Aside from like. The tusks and stuff.” </p><p>“Huh? What are you on right now?”</p><p>Dream let his hands fall, and ruffled Sapnap’s hair before turning back to follow the rest of the gang, who were now waiting in front of an office door. “Don’t worry, I’ll tell you in a sec. Let’s go see what Bad has here first, though.” </p><p>The name on the door read, “Prof. P. Watson.” Bad stood with his hand on the handle, looking around the corridor, as though someone would come along and tell him off for snooping. Dream quickly took a picture of the name on the door, and gestured for Bad to open it. It took a few seconds, but eventually, he squeezed his eyes shut, turned the handle, and stepped inside. Everyone followed soon after. </p><p>“So this is where I—what the muffin?!” Bad was frozen, his torch illuminating the far wall. It was absolutely covered in light blue chalk, all of which read, “14,” over and over. In the very centre of Bad’s torchlight, was a messily drawn smiley face, with a tongue sticking out to one side. Further examination of the other walls showed they had gotten a similar treatment. “Oh my goodness, none of this was here before, you have to believe me.”</p><p>“Dream, how are you feeling, with the ghost senses?” Ant asked.</p><p>“Uh. Not great, but not too bad either. This ghost is either not around, or pretty weak.”</p><p>“He didn’t seem weak,” Bad mumbled. He made his way over to the desk, and the rest followed. “Here, look!” He pointed to a sheet of paper, sitting bellow the message Bad had mentioned before. “This is what I said to him, and look what he said in response.”</p><p>Bad had written in pen, “Hi mr Ghost. Please stop throwing things around, it’s very rude, and it’s making me very angry. I hope you stop being so muffin-y so we can be friends!” Dream dragged a hand down his face and sighed. This was… not how you reasoned with ghosts, and Bad should know that by now. And asking to be friends with one was just asking for trouble. Sure, Dream sometimes joked about it, but that’s all it was. A joke. Underneath Bad’s message was more of the chalk, again showing that weird smiley face, followed by, “no &lt;3.”</p><p>“So… where’s the stuff about the Blade?” he asked bluntly.</p><p>“What do you mean? Don’t you see it?” Bad took the paper from him and pointed at the smiley face. “It’s an axe!”</p><p>Ant took his own look at the paper and frowned up at Dream, who shrugged. “Bad, that’s a tongue,” he said. Bad stared down at the face for a few seconds in silence, before throwing it onto the desk.</p><p>“Gosh darn it! I was so so sure!” He grumbled, crossing his arms. “Maybe the Blade likes smiley faces. You don’t know. It could still be him.”</p><p>Dream shook his head, unable to keep the smile off his face. Now was probably the best time to tell him. “It’s not him Bad. I should know. I just had a nice little chat with him in the library.” Everyone turned to stare at him, and George and Bad’s mouths fell open. “Yep! Was meant to meet Techno, but there was no sign of him. Only this floaty red-eyed guy with a crown and a huge axe.” He recounted their short meeting, excluding the part where he almost died, and how reckless he had been. “But it was amazing, really. The Blade is… He’s really something else. Like, literally awesome, in the literary sense. His presence alone was terrifying, and the way he spoke was, well, you know how they sometimes do weird voice distortion stuff when trying to be extra scary? Like that, but, I don’t know, he actually managed to pull it off, I guess. He was so terrifying, but also kind of awkward at the same time? OH, and he had these FANGS, not like a vampire, more like a boar or something, like from the bottom jaw? His axe was really something else, though. He must be crazy strong, because he was able to—to wield it with one hand, even though its like, a proper battle axe and everything.” He paused for a second, realizing he had been talking for way longer than he needed to. “Anyway, tldr, this is actually the best job we’ve ever had, and the Blade is really really cool, even if he like, killed people and stuff.”</p><p>The rest of the group were silent for a moment. “Um. Wow. Okay.” George slowly took out his notebook, and began writing. “That’s. A lot?”</p><p>Dream scratched his head and laughed awkwardly. “Yeah, I’ve, I dunno, really been looking forward to this all week, I guess. It’s just cool that it was actually worth looking forward to. Like, this is really big for us, as a group, and from a historical point it’s kind of amazing really. It’s like we get to meet, I don’t know, King Arthur but when he was in college or something. How amazing is that?”</p><p>“It is pretty cool,” Bad agreed. “But if you met the blade, then who was in here?” He looked more downtrodden than Dream thought was deserved in this situation. </p><p>“Well, they were pretty mischievous, right? Kinda poltergeist-y behaviour. So maybe it was someone on the problem student list,” George said, looking up from his notes. “Plus, all the fourteens everywhere have got to be some sort of clue. Maybe you should try writing them more messages Bad.”</p><p>“Hmm…” Bad stroked his chin and nodded slowly. “I think that is a very good idea. As long as they don’t throw more things at me again, because that wasn’t very nice.”</p><p> </p><p>After Bad’s probably-poltergeist fiasco, the Dreamteam settled down in the lobby for an early break, followed by another half-hour of clue-hunting, this time splitting up so they were properly alone. Dream claimed the top floor of the right building, hoping to find out who some of the dorms belonged to. It became very frustrating very fast, due to the cluttered mess that most of them had been left in, and after ten minutes spent basically just straight up cleaning one room, in the hopes he would uncover anything, literally anything, he collapsed face first onto the bed and huffed. As opposed to the start of their trip here, his dorm adventure was turning up literally nothing of interest. Granted he hadn’t had the chance to properly look yet, but even then, he wasn’t feeling too good about his chances. Still, he got up, and held his torch close, ready for anything.</p><p>The room he was in was quite big, with dark red curtains lying on the floor, under a pile of slightly torn pillows. A small candelabra that dream had lit upon entering, did a surprising amount to light the place up, but even then he had to squint to make out some details. Going over it with his torch, he found some shards of glass near the window, though it was still intact, and some torn pieces of paper, shredded up so small it was impossible for him to piece together into coherent sentences. Most disturbing, was the small bloodstain in one corner of the room, surrounded by a smattering of soft downy feathers. The few torn pillows he had seen hadn’t had any feathers in them, however, so Dream reconned, for some reason, someone had killed a bird in here, which was… mildly worrying, for non-ghost reasons. </p><p>Nothing else, though. No other clues. No writing, no names anywhere, not even any clothes in the chest in front of the bed. Another good waste of time, he supposed. He was about to leave, and start checking the rest of the dorms for literally anything, when he felt a familiar wave of iciness rush over him. Slowly, he turned away from the door, and made his way back into the room. “Hello? Who’s here?” He reached into his bag, and silently cursed as he realized Sapnap and Bad currently had the only two available spirit boxes, meaning chances of Dream communicating with whoever was here—because there was definitely someone—were much lower than he would have liked. “Or, at least, give me a sign.” </p><p>Dream’s torch flickered off, and the candelabra blown out in an instant, leaving the room pitch black. God damn it. Why had he walked away from the door? He had only a general idea of where the exit was now, and trying to get there before anything happened would be very very tricky. </p><p>“Yeah, now you look scared, Dream. How’s that for a sign?”</p><p>“Techno?!”</p><p>“Oh, you remember me do you? Shame you didn’t listen to my warning, huh? Told you you might die if you came back.”</p><p>Even with the prickly, ghostly chill, Dream felt weirdly calm listening to Techno’s voice again. Better the ghost you know than the one you don’t, he supposed. He wasn’t without fear, that was for sure, but the low rasp of the pink haired ghost was a lot nicer to listen to than the weird screaming and jittering that most weaker malevolent ghosts made.</p><p>“Yes, Techno, I remember you. Now can you put the torch back on, please?” Dream did his best to sound patient and condescending, as he tapped his foot against the floor. This whole faking bravado thing in the face of ghosts had worked for him so far, here. Might as well continue.</p><p>“Hmph.” The candelabra burst back into light, giving the room a soft glow.</p><p>“Thank you.” Dream glanced around the room, and was mostly unsurprised to see no trace of Techno. “Aw, you’re not gonna show yourself?” </p><p>“No. I’m not. And before anything else, you’re going to tell me what you’re doing in my room.”</p><p>Dream’s eyes went wide. “Wait, this is YOUR ROOM?!”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>This whole thing was written while listening to the Ace Attorney soundtracks and it was wonderful. Hope you enjoyed!! I like writing Bad a lot, so this chapter was made all the more rewarding for it lol. And next time we finally get more Dream and Techno interactions babeyyyy! :D</p><p>Thank you all so much for being patient, and please let me know what you thought! :3</p><p>For more MCYT content from yours truly, follow me on tumblr, where I reblog a bunch, an post my own mcyt art, or on twitter where I just post art, at blazing-spectre and @starr65748 respectively!</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Chapter 7</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Wooooo it's my birthday tomorrow, and I'm turning the same age as these losers, so as an early bday present to myself I am uploading this earlier than I had planned *dabs*</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Yep. You are currently in my room.”</p><p>Dream looked around for a moment, hoping to find some sort of indicator of where the ghost was standing, but aside from general voice direction, he was seemingly alone. The warm glow from the candelabra contrasted with the intense chill that was washing through him, and while it was nowhere near as strong as his torchlight, he felt safer with it there. </p><p>“So. Why are you here?” He sounded resigned to Dream.</p><p>“That excited to see me, are you? Well, we have to investigate you see, so of course we’d come back,” Dream said. “It’s not like we can find all the answers we want in one single night. I still want those from you, by the way. Answers.”</p><p>“About the Blade, yes. I thought you might,” Techno sighed, and Dream sensed the slightest bit of movement, Techno’s voice getting the slightest bit fainter as he began to cross the room. “I’ll have you know, what you did last night was very rude. I ended up telling you my whole life story, but apparently you weren’t actually there for any of it.” </p><p>Dream chuckled and looked for somewhere to get comfy. “Well, would you mind telling me again, now that I’m back? I can try and make it worth your while, if you want.” Even with Dream’s half-done cleaning job, the bed was the only comfortable place to sit, for now.</p><p>“And what could I possibly want from you, Dream?” </p><p>“I don’t know, I could give you information in return, if you’d like. I’m sure you’ll think of something,” he said, only a little condescendingly, and sat down on the side of the bed, before jumping right back up. “Oh, what the fuck was that?! That was so cold!” </p><p>Techno sighed heavily, and in the most deadpan voice Dream had heard him use so far, replied, “Mhm. That would be because you sat directly in me.” He sounded so close that Dream had to once again stepped backwards to put some distance between them.</p><p>“I WHAT?!” The cold from before hadn’t left, and Dream’s eyes went wide as he realized the air had felt, somewhat denser there. “But I thought you were completely corporeal! Why don’t you just show yourself to me so I don’t have to get hypothermia just from doing a ghost interview or whatever? Besides, you literally have a portrait of yourself hanging up in the front hall; I already know what you look like.”</p><p>“Mmmm, no. I’ll stay like this for now thank you. And I am not ‘completely corporeal,’ as you put it. It takes a lot of energy to do that, you know,” he drawled out. He didn’t sound like the energy-having type, Dream admitted. “You can sit down again, if you’d like. I’m at the foot of the bed now.” The last sentence was spoken so close to him that Dream could swear he felt Techno’s breath against his neck, which of course was impossible, because, well. He didn’t breathe anymore. He sat back on the bed. “And as for what I want in return, I want two things from you. One, I get to ask you some questions, so this isn’t all one-sided, and two, I want you to stay out of the library. Actually this time. Please just let me have my privacy.”</p><p>Dream nodded slowly, lifting his legs up onto the bed and making himself comfortable. With the dim lighting, and casual back and forth, if not for the freezing temperature, and the fact that Techno was in fact both dead and invisible, it almost felt like they were two kids about to play truth or dare at a sleepover. “Sure, I’ll bite. I have nothing to hide. Open book.” He grinned in Techno’s general direction. “Hey, this is our first meeting without you trying to kill me! Aw, you’re warming up to me already, huh?”</p><p>“Don’t push it, Dream. There’s plenty of time for killing later. I will admit, however, that I am kinda curious about you. Especially after you showed up in my library without actually being there. That’s some weird shit, I won’t lie.” Dream raised an eyebrow. His library? He really was a territorial one. “So. Who are you, and why are you here? I want a real answer this time. And don’t forget, unlike last night, I can actually take your head off this time.”</p><p>Dream’s fingers gently brushed his neck. A repeat of what had transpired in his dream (if that’s what it even had been) was something he wanted to avoid at all costs. “That sounds reasonable enough! So, you wanna know about me, huh? Well, I’m Dream, I’m twenty-one years old, and I investigate ghosts for a living.”</p><p>“I don’t see how one of those pieces of information is relevant, but continue.”</p><p>“Well, as for why I’m here, me and my ghost hunting friends were given the best job offer we have gotten so far, so we took it up. And, that offer was to learn as much about the Blade as possible, and even talk to him if we can. Which, so far, is going pretty great, actually. I don’t have any evidence yet, but I’ve already spoken to the guy once, even if he did try to kill me.” Dream smiled to himself as he thought back to it. “Honestly, Techno, you’re pretty cool and all, very powerful, very scary, but wow, the Blade is on another level.”</p><p>“I’m very cool, and very powerful, thank you very much. But, tell me Dream, how else is the Blade on another level to me?” </p><p>Dream lay back and stared at the ornate ceiling of the room, back to what had really only been about an hour ago at most. “I mean, he’s amazing, for a ghost, that is. Like, actually amazing. He’s extremely powerful, too. I mean, he can show himself, speak proper sentences, distort his voice, and float all at once. It’s honestly incredible. I’ve never seen anything like it before. Plus, his presence is incredible, overpowering. He doesn’t look to bad either,” he joked, not there wasn’t definitely some truth to it. “Although, I don’t know what’s up with the tusks. Usually when a ghost’s appearance changes based off how they died, or whatever, well, I’ve never heard of anyone taking on animal characteristics before. I have to say though, he’s definitely the most interesting ghost I’ve had to investigate so far.” He sat back up, and turned towards Techno. “Ok, my turn to ask some questions.” No response. “Techno? What, is it weird for me to talk about your, what, your brother like that to you?”</p><p>Techno cleared his throat. “I—no, I just. Wasn’t expecting that. It sounds like he left… quite the impression on you.” He coughed a few times, and Dream was kind of taken aback. He sounded almost… embarrassed? “Yes. Anyway. My brother. Yes. My uh. Twin brother.”</p><p>“That explains the resemblance,” Dream admitted. He needed to get a picture of Techno’s portrait next time he was in the front hall, even if it was just to have a face to match to the gravelly voice of his new… acquaintance? Is that what they were? The juxtaposition between the graceful features and the rough voice made him chuckle to himself. </p><p>“Mmm. I have two other brothers, actually. They’re also around here somewhere, but we tend to stay out of each other’s way for the most part. Actually, that’s sort of why I came here. Trying to get away from the youngest one, because he keeps getting in my way, and asking me weird questions. Sort of like you, now that I think about it.”</p><p>“Hey, I haven’t actually asked anything yet. But I guess I’ll start with two, seeing as I didn’t get to ask any last night.” And because he wanted the answers as soon as possible, and every interaction they had had so far had been rudely interrupted. “So, first, tell me a bit about yourself Techno. Likes and dislikes, what you like to get up to in your spare time, you know. And secondly, what was your brother getting in the way of? Like, what do you even need to do as a ghost?” Dream was getting accustomed to the freezing temperature now, all original traces of fear having evaporated. Ice-breakers with pink-haired, invisible ghosts. What a way to pass the night. He would be lying is he said he wasn’t having fun, though. Despite the gruffness and awkwardness, Techno was a lot of fun to talk to, almost charming in his own way. Well. Maybe not charming, but. He was nice. Well, he wasn’t really, at all, but. Dream shook his head. No point in getting lost in his thoughts now, especially when those thoughts suggested that a dead man might be ‘charming.’</p><p>“Uh. So, I’m Techno, I died when I was also twenty-one, I like reading, large amounts of violence, and uh… I don’t know. Horses are pretty neat. As for what I don’t like, I’m not especially fond of people messing with my stuff, or interacting with other people. Amazing I know. Almost,” he let out a short laugh. “Almost as amazing as my brother is by your standards.”</p><p>Dream raised an eyebrow. “What, are you making fun of me for being suitably impressed?”</p><p>“God no, far be it for me to stand in the way of your simping.”</p><p>“It’s hardly simping, Techno, I just think he’s an interesting and unique ghost. It’s part of the job. It’s fine if you’re jealous though, you can just say. I won’t judge.” Having any sort of feelings for the long deceased was the last thing Dream wanted. “Besides, how the hell do you even know what simp means?” </p><p>“Friend of one of my brothers taught him, who then wouldn’t stop sayin’ it, and now we’re here. Anyway, you asked what Tommy interrupted before? Well, I was actually on my way to look for you.”</p><p>Dream was surprised on several levels, one being that other living people seemed to be in contact with the ghosts here, and the other… “You were looking for me? Why?”</p><p>There was a beat of silence. “Oh. I forgot you can’t actually see if I shrug. Two reasons. One, to warn you about my friend tormenting your friend, but he beat me to it apparently, and the other was actually to ask you to leave again.”</p><p>“But you haven’t asked me to leave yet.”</p><p>“I know. Believe me, I’m as shocked as you are. I had some questions for you. And now they’re more or less answered, so. I guess I’ll be on my way for now.”</p><p>What, just like that? And hang on, “Wait, Techno, you knew your friend beat you to Bad. Does that mean you were watching us?” </p><p>Techno paused. “I will neither confirm nor deny this question.”</p><p>Dream smiled to himself. “It’s nice to know you care, Techno. Next time you want to talk to me though, you can just ask. You’re my second favourite ghost, after all.”</p><p>“First being my brother, I assume.”</p><p>“Correct,” Dream said, finger-gunning in the direction he hoped Techno was, before turning on his torch. “Well, if you need to be off, Techno, I’ll leave you to it for now.” He hopped up and started towards the door; it was getting close to time for the Dreamteam to head back to the motel.</p><p>“Wait, Dream.” He turned back, only to see a ring-laden hand appear from the air behind him. “I want you to agree to stay out of the library for the rest of your investigation here. In return, I will explain any clues you come across, or answer any questions you have, and.” He sighed, “I will offer you protection if you really need it. Do we have a deal?”</p><p>Dream eyed up the hand, noting the claw-like nails, inhuman in appearance. “What’s stopping me from just asking you anyway. Especially after today, from which I got basically no information from you, I feel like I’m owed more questions.”</p><p>“I don’t owe you anything, actually. I’m pretty sure it’s the other way around.”</p><p>“Okay, okay. Whatever. We have a deal, Techno.” He reached for the hand in front of him, half expecting his own to pass straight through it. Instead, he felt his hand close around freezing cold flesh, and he jerked his hand away for a second, covering it with the sleeve of his hoody in order to hopefully block out the cold. Even then, the chill seeped through as they shook, and Techno laughed at him when he retracted his hand to blow on it, trying to warm it up.</p><p>“See you ‘round, Dream.” The hand vanished, and Dream felt another sudden shock of cold, before he was left alone in the now somewhat warm bedroom. He glanced at the door behind him and raised an eyebrow. Had Techno really just walked directly through him for dramatic effect? He really was something else. </p><p>As he made his way back to the front hall to wait for his friends, Dream smiled. Maybe he and Techno were becoming friends after all. They seemed to get along well enough, and with that deal, and the fact that he had apparently been watching him and the Dreamteam for some time, maybe the ghost thought there was room on the table for a friendship as well. It was an exciting thought, really. An unreal one. Who ever heard of befriending a ghost? He did admit to being frustrated at the lack of job-related information he had gotten out of the man, but even then, it felt like time well-spent. He was nice to talk to, to listen to, especially with that voice of his. It was calming. It also inspired something in Dream, although he couldn’t quite put his finger on what. The motivation to annoy the ghost, perhaps. He thought about Techno watching him earlier, and glanced around at the door-lined hallway he was walking down. Was he here now? Or had he retreated back to his precious library? Dream would have to go in there eventually, in order to get his hands on the book Techno had almost killed him over. But for now, he was content to go back to the motel with his friends, have dinner, and share what they had all found. As for how much of his talk with Techno he would share, he wasn’t sure. For the most part, he didn’t feel like it was something the rest of the Dreamteam needed to know, as far as he was concerned. It was just a small chat, after all. </p><p>The hall was empty when he got there, which was to be expected. He was a little early, after all. He climbed the stairs once again to the portrait area. The four intact portraits looked back at him, or at least, the two blond ones did, what with their intact eyes and all. Dream positioned his torch on his shoulder, and carefully took several pictures of each painting. If Techno wasn’t going to properly reveal himself aside from his cold-as-fuck hand, then this was the best evidence Dream could find of his appearance for now. Slouched posture, messy yet elegant braid thrown over his shoulder, with a stray lock of hair falling in front of his face, and with that uniform; the Techno in the portrait didn’t look quite real, or like the kind of person who would waste time bullying other students out in a hallway. </p><p>“Damn it, I forgot to ask about that…”</p><p>“About what exactly?”</p><p>Dream rolled his eyes, but smiled nonetheless. “It’s kind of weird following me around like that, you know.” </p><p>“Meh. Got nothing better to do. And what I come to find is you spending your precious investigation time staring at me and my brothers for weird amounts of time,” Techno said, and Dream watched as his portrait floated upwards off the wall, in Techno’s hands no doubt. “Honestly, you can just take these with you, if they’re that important.”</p><p>“It’s better to leave them here for now, but thanks. I think. I don’t have a use for a portrait of you, you know.” Which was a lie. For all Dream knew, at this stage, those portraits could hold all the clues needed to finish this job. But that was highly unlikely.</p><p>He watched as the painting was placed back onto the wall. “And here I was thinking I was your second favourite ghost,” Techno replied. “If you want, I can tell you a bit more about the other guys here. You do seem to think I still owe you something after all, so this can make up for that.”</p><p>“Oh. That would be super helpful actually. Wait, lemme grab my notebook so I can write this down,” Dream said, reaching into his bag. Maybe today wouldn’t be so information-less after all.</p><p>“Hah, what, you need to write every little clue down? Laaaame. For all you know, this could all lead you to nothing, but you’re still gonna take notes?” Techno laughed, haltingly but loudly, and Dream couldn’t help but chuckle himself. This was the most energized he had heard Techno so far, and it was completely out of left field. He had to admit, the ghost had a pretty unique laugh. He wanted to hear it again.</p><p>“Any information is good information, actually. Now, who’s this one?”</p><p>As Dream waited for his friends to return, he stood beside Techno, as he told him about his other two brothers. Wilbur had been the first to attend here as a student, and was well liked by most people there, even if some found his dark sense of humour, and blunt criticism to be a bit much. Now, he mainly stuck to the right side of the campus, the quiet side, as Techno put it, singing haunting refrains, and being generally lonely, and was probably the best source of information, as long as they could deal with him being weird or dramatic at times.  Then, there was the blond kid, Tommy. He was in death as he was in life; very very loud, and very very annoying, and yet everyone seemed to be friends with him, in one way or another. Techno told Dream that he was honestly surprised he hadn’t chased them down a hall with a knife yet. When Dream asked if they should be worried, Techno just laughed again, and reassured him that Tommy was pretty much harmless, except maybe to himself.</p><p>“And who’s this? He looks older than the rest of you.”</p><p>Techno paused for a moment, seemingly unsure of how to answer. “That… That’s our fa—”</p><p>“YO DREAM WE’RE BACK!” As Sapnap’s voice rang through the hall, Dream felt the cold presence next to him vanish, and he rolled his eyes. Of course, they had to interrupt again, just as he was final getting something solid on the ghosts here. He turned to where Techno had previously been, and shrugged.</p><p>“Sorry about that,” he whispered. “Next time, yeah?”</p><p>There was no answer, aside from a slight decrease in temperature, which Dream hoped meant he understood. Smiling to the patch of air, he turned at started down the stairs to rejoin his friends.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>Friendship pog! :3c Well. hesitant friendship. This was not how this chapter was meant to go, but the characters have a mind of their own it seems.</p><p>Hope you enjoyed!! Let me know what you think, and I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!</p>
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